Teaser

Fabius Bile is known by many names. Primogenitor. Clonelord. Manflayer. Traitor. Surrounded by the forces of Chaos Bile works to create his New Men. But can anything rooted in Chaos truly last . . ?

Review

Though he has since parted ways with the company, Josh Reynolds is still regarded by many as one of the best Black Library authors. He’s the man chosen to bring an end to the Warhammer Fantasy universe, and his Knights of the Blazing Sun was a phenomenal debut. The Fabius Bile trilogy is the first of his Warhammer 40,000 fiction that I’ve read (though, as ever, we must exclude short fiction from this broad statement), and I had high hopes for it. Hopes, unfortunately, that were not met.

As always, an omnibus edition is a two-edged sword. if the story is good, then you get it all in one heady rush. But if the story is lacking, then you’re saddled with the knowledge that there are still hundred of pages to go. It’s strange that this entire trilogy, with bonus short fiction, all fits into a book that itself has a smaller page count than some epics out there, but this was a book in which I felt the weight of each and every one of the eight hundred and fourteen pages. That’s not a sensation you want, just for the record.

Interestingly for a novel about a famous character, this is neither an origin story, nor the tale of some pivotal point in Bile’s existence. Only in the third book do we find out that it’s all set around three centuries before the present day of the setting. And that does pose something of a problem. There’s no inciting incident to speak of. No attainable goal. What we actually get is a bunch of Chaos worshippers falling over themselves in a race to see who can backstab who the fastest. Which could have taken lace at any time, if we’re being honest about it. A lot of the time, we don’t actually get to see Bile himself, instead spending time with is many acolytes and apprentices. All of whom are cut from such a similar cloth that I can’t really tell them apart.

There is some good stuff in here. This is the first time I’ve come across Noise Marines in Black Library fiction. I was actually dubious as to their canonicity, so getting them first-hand was a surprise as delightful as they are horrific. The second book, Clonelord, is easily the strongest, thanks to an appearance from one Trazyn the Infinite, who I personally found more engaging as an antagonist here than as the protagonist of Robert Rath’s The Infinite and the Divine.

Overall, however, I found Fabius Bile: The Omnibus, lacking. It’s far from Reynolds’ best work, and I find myself wondering why other Black Library readers rate it as highly as they do. It’s certainly not the worst book I’ve read recently, but I would encourage the curious reader to try other books before tackling this one.

Book Stats

• An Omnibus of Primogenitor, Clonelord and Manflayer, with additional short stories
• Focuses on the Chaos Space Marines
• First published in 2022
• Published by Black Library
• Grimdark SF
• 814 Pages